Well, I was wrong, I found out yesterday, it was 13 hours. The doctor said it was 11, but that was only the part that he was working on. The anatheseologist didn't know because he was relieved towards the end. It was the nurses who eventually got the gossip on the entire length - 13 hours.
Will's in a private room now, reserved for dignitaries (like doctors and nurses, when they have surgery), a corner single with big windows and lots of chairs. Every nursing shift that comes on has to have training on how to deal with his tubes because this is so complex. So there's been crowds in there, many of them women, surrounding the bed, looking at his private parts. Fortunately he's on morphine.
Even though he has his blackberry, he can't keep concentration very long because of the morphine. So he's still pretty much out of contact (no phones allowed). He'll be better when he can get in contact with the world again and tell them what's happening.
Oh, and they automatically gave us a visiting nurse service to come in once a day after he goes home. This is the benefit of using a small, local hospital where the doctor knows everyone and has a lot of pull. I thought I was going to have to fight for that, but they already arranged it.
I'm going to copy both these BB postings onto the blog, in case others are looking there to see what people experience.
